Chapter 45 Make my own path

Chapter 45 Make my own path
Hades
“I am not completely banned from coming home, am I, brother?” I ask. Alex’s smug arrogant face pisses me off. The fact that I have to grovel to him for help with Daphne drives me insane.
“When was the last time you visited Olympus, brother? Light years ago?” he retorts.
I glance around. The fake joy in Olympus annoys me. Here, we all pretend to be one big happy family. The temples, the prayers and gifts from mortals, and parties cover the fact that we are all in broken pieces. Take my brother, Alex, for instance. I know he is the mightiest god amongst us all but I also know his marriage is disintegrating and his wife, Helena, is unhappy with his philandering.
“I fucking hate it here, Alex,” I tell him now.
 He laughs. “You sound like my wife.”
I tuck my hands into my pockets. “Yeah, I’m sure she has her reasons, too.”
Alex faces me. “I’m sure you are not here visiting the fates, brother right? And your visit has nothing to do with that girl you are obsessed with?”
“Her name’s Daphne. She’s dying. I came here to see if I can stop it.”
Alex shakes his head at me, his eyes narrowing with anger building inside him. We’ve had this fight a million times. In every timeline, he has tried to stop me from having Daphne.
“You stopped the Reaper from taking her soul and now you’re trying to force the Fates to rewrite your destiny. You’re putting the entire order in jeopardy. Not to mention risking Hell. All the time you spend on earth with you leaves Hell exposed,” Alex begins to scold me.
“I don’t fucking care about Hell. I don’t care about any of it. I care about Daphne. I care about keeping her safe, being there for her.”
“It’s been what, brother? An eternity and you still don’t want to accept your fate.”
“Would you?”
Alex’s voice deepens, it booms all over Olympus, shaking its foundation. “This isn’t about me, Hades. It’s about you and Hell. We all have our responsibilities. You are ignoring yours to be with that girl.”
I take a deep breath, nursing my wounded pride. “I can’t lose her, Alex. I need her.”
“We draw our lots, brother.”
“She’s not going to die, Alex. You don’t even want to know what I will do, the lengths I would do, the crimes I would commit for her.”
Alex’s brows raise bemusedly. “Are you challenging me, brother?”
“I don’t know who I am without her. I am warning you, brother.”
Alex grins. “Brother, I feel for you. I do. Condemned to rule Hell forever, alone, cold, frigid, isolated, unloved. What a terrible fate for any man. But it is not our place to change our fate. That girl’s mother has prayed to me, requested for her protection, to keep her away from you. And I intend to heed her prayers.”
“Of course, you will. You’ll choose anyone over your own brother. For years now, you’ve both refused to listen to me. She loves me. She’s the love of my life. I couldn’t imagine living without her. At some point, you’d have to accept my request. Or don’t, I really don’t care. All I know is that I will do whatever it takes to be with her.”
Alex bobs his head, authoritatively. “We’ll see about that.”
Before I could blink, he disappears. My anger builds faster and faster. It almost compels me to level Olympus down.
Just as I am pacing up and down, my other brother, Theodore, appears from the tree shade where he’d been hiding, listening to us. He is wearing his blue cape, carrying his trident, freshly out of his realm in the ocean.
“How long have you been spying on us there?” I ask.
“I’m worried about you two. A war between heaven and Hell will not bode well for the rest of us.”
I laugh. “All my life, I’ve never asked anything from you two. Nothing. I accepted my role as the Ruler of the Underworld. I did everything ever asked of me but the one time I ask for one thing. Just one thing. Do you think it’s easy to live down there all alone? Do you think it’s easy to know that my soulmate is out there in the world and I can’t be with her.”
Theo strikes his trident into the ground. “She doesn’t even know who you are. And when you do tell her, she’ll never accept you.”
“I need time. I just need a little bit of time to convince her.”
“Alex will not allow it.”
“Then, you need to convince her mother. She’s the only one stopping you.”
I take a deep breath. “Fine. I will try. She hates my guts.”
“It’s been years. Maybe, her guts has changed.”
I take a deep breath. “I have to go, Theo.”
“I’ll speak to Alex for you. I can’t guarantee it’ll make any changes but I do feel for you, brother.”
Theo waves goodbye to me as I step into the portal that hurtles me back to Hell. First, I stop at Hypnos’s home by the river. The lazy god of sleep and dreams is lying in his hammock when I entered his home.
“Wake up, Hypnos. I have a task for you. I have to visit Daphne’s dream.”
Hypnos groans but stands and guides me into Daphne’s dream. The last time I entered her dream, we had mind-blowing sex, but it’s different this time. She’s still in the hospital, still stuck in the state of undead.
I sit by her bedside, holding her hand. I kiss her palm.
“I am so sorry I put you through all of this. I promise I will fix it. Give me time.”
To Hypnos standing behind me, I instruct. “Wake her up.”
Hypnos is surprised. “She’s marked for death.”
“I don’t care. Wake her up. May the fates and my brother be damned. From now on, I will make my own path.”